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Yip Harburg

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Somewhere over the rainbow,
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Edgar Yipsel Harburg (8 April 1896 – 4 March 1981), born Isidore Hochberg and known primarily as E. Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an American lyricist who worked with many well-known composers. He is most famous for his lyrics for The Wizard of Oz (1939), including those of "Over the Rainbow".

Quotes

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Brother, can you spare a dime?
Say, its only a paper moon
Sailing over a cardboard sea...
It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow,
Why then, oh why can't I?
You gotta rock that rainbow while you still got your youth!
Look, look, look to the rainbow
Follow it over the hill and stream
Look, look, look to the rainbow
Follow the fellow who follows a dream.
How are things in Glocca Morra?
When I'm not near the girl I love,
I love the girl I'm near.
WHERE and WHEN
 Are lost in space.
THERE and THEN
 Do not embrace.
So before we disappear
Come sweet NOW and kiss the HERE.
Lives of great men all remind us greatness takes no easy way.
I am one of the last of a small tribe of troubadours, who still believe that life is a beautiful and exciting journey with a purpose and grace which are well worth singing about.

  • Without your love
    It's a honky-tonk parade
    Without your love
    It's a melody played in a penny arcade.

    It's a Barnum and Bailey world
    Just as phony as it can be
    But it wouldn't be make-believe
    If you believed in me.

    • "It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933) (co-written with Billy Rose).
  • Some day I'll wish upon a star
    And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
    Where troubles melt like lemondrops
    Away above the chimney tops,
    That's where you'll find me.
    Somewhere over the rainbow
    Bluebirds fly.
    Birds fly over the rainbow,
    Why then, oh why can't I?
  • We're off to see the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
    You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was.

  • You’re out of the woods
    You’re out of the dark
    You’re out of the night
    Step into the sun, step into the light    ,
    Keep straight ahead
    For the most glorious place
    On the Face of the Earth
    Or the sky.

    Hold onto your breath
    Hold onto your heart
    Hold onto your hope    ,
    March up to the gate
    And bid it open.

    • "Optimistic Voices".
  • To let a fool kiss you is stupid,
    To let a kiss fool you is worse.
    • "Inscription On A Lipstick" in The Garment Worker Vol. 41 (1941), p. 10.
  • Life is short, short, brother!
    Ain't it the truth?
    And there is no other
    Ain't it the truth?
    You gotta rock that rainbow while you still got your youth!
    Oh! Ain't it the solid truth?
    • "Ain't It the Truth" originally written for Cabin in the Sky (1943), but pulled from the show, and later included in Jamaica (1957) - Lena Horne version

  • On the day I was born,
    Said my father, said he
    I've an elegant legacy waiting for ye.
    Tis a rhyme for your lips
    And a song for your heart
    To sing it whenever the world falls apart.

    Look, look, look to the rainbow
    Follow it over the hill and stream
    Look, look, look to the rainbow
    Follow the fellow who follows a dream.

  • So I ask each weepin' willow
    And each brook along the way,
    And each lad that comes a-whistlin' Tooralay
    How are things in Glocca Morra
    This fine day?
    • "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?"
  • The Lord made Adam, the Lord made Eve, he made ‘em both a little bit naive.
    • “The Begat” in Finian’s Rainbow (1946).
  • No matter how high or great the throne,
    What sits on it is the same as your own.
    • As quoted in The Americans (1970) by David Frost, p. 181.
  • WHERE and WHEN
     Are lost in space.
    THERE and THEN
     Do not embrace.
    So before we disappear
    Come sweet NOW and kiss the HERE.
    • "Adverbs" in Laughing Space : Funny Science Fiction (1982) edited by Isaac Asimov & ‎J. O. Jeppson , p. 503.
  • I am one of the last of a small tribe of troubadours, who still believe that life is a beautiful and exciting journey with a purpose and grace which are well worth singing about.
    • As quoted in "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", by Scott Jacobs, in The Week Behind (23 September 2009).

Rhymes for the Irreverent (1965)

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My heart's prepared for aching
The moment you take wing.
But not, my friend, for breaking
While there's another spring.
  • No matter how much I probe and prod,
      I cannot quite believe in God    ;
    But oh, I hope to God that He
      Unswervingly believes in me.
    • "Agnostic".

  • And only God who makes the tree
    Also makes the fools like me.

    But only fools like me, you see,
    Can make a God, who makes a tree.

    • "Atheist".

  • My heart is like the willow
    That bends, but never breaks.
    It sighs when summer jilts her,
    It sings when April wakes.

    So you, who come a-smiling
    With summer in your eyes,
    Think not that your beguiling
    Will take me by surprise.

    My heart's prepared for aching
    The moment you take wing.
    But not, my friend, for breaking
    While there's another spring.

    • "Irreverent Heart"

Quotes about Harburg

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